Just thought I'd post results of a dehydration experiment we did.  

Been reading through the recipes on freezer bag cooking and decided we'd better start experimenting with the recipes and substitutions before we subject ourselves to this on the BW lakes in August.

My better half makes a mix of three natural rices which are unbleached and not stripped (hence the phrase "natural"). One is a long grain natural, one is a short natural red grain, and the third is the northern wild rice from the MN. rice lakes regions. (that last one is mostly for color and texture - it can be expensive)

We simply cannot force ourselves to the "instant rice" varieties - there's just no flavor and very little real food value to it.  Call us Prima Donnas but after eating my childbride's rice blend it's a hands down contest.

It takes a long time to cook the rice the first time around because it is not stripped. She adds a very mild bullion to the mix plus a couple dry herbs.  Cooks for about an hour. It makes a fanTAStic dinner dish so we thought let's try it for the BW.

We use it as a substitution for "Ben's" instant rice in the freezer bag cooking recipes.  It's a 1:1 substitute.

We dehydrated a test batch - seemed to go okay - didn't clump up real bad, broke up easy enough while drying. The whole dehydration time was about 3.5 to 4 hours at 135°.  DON'T use oil in the cooking process.

We let it "rest" for a couple days in a plastic bag and then my childbride tested it for a snack one afternoon. Simply covered it with boiling water and let it "steep" for 15 minutes. (most of the freezer bag recipes have to "cozy" for 10-15 minutes anyway) Turned out perfect.  Very slightly chewy but quite good.

It turned out to be a great experiment.  It's a great natural camp food that can be used as a main dish ingredient (ie: with dehydrated burger) or a staple side dish.  For Veggan diets it has a LOT of real food mileage and value.

If you have a dehydrator give it a shot.